Animal cruelty sentences to rise to five years in prison in Wales

On the 30th of September 2017 the government proposed that courts in England can now give up to 5 years imprisonment to individuals who abuse animals. Before this change, only a 6 month sentence could be given to animal abusers in the UK. Although this change is a step forward for the UK government to prevent the actions of animal abusers, Wales still has yet to do anything about animal abuse.

According to BBC News, under the government's plans, courts will retain the ability to hand out an unlimited fine and ban an offender from owning animals in the future. However, they would now also have the ability to sentence the worst cases more harshly.

This ability should not only be available in England, but also in Wales.This is important as animal abuse is a growing problem in Wales. According to an article published by The Daily Post who claim 10,540 complaints of cruelty were received during 2016 in Wales with 120 successful prosecutions.

One of the most shocking cases was in Wrexham where a man was found guilty of cutting his own dog’s ears off in a sickening, drug fuelled attack. He was jailed for only 24 weeks. (as shown in picture)

As well as that animals are constantly left abandoned in boxes and bin bags around Wales, such as this female tabby cat who was abandoned in Holywell earlier this year and left to die. Luckily she was found by RSPCA Cymru. If this 5 year sentence was put in place in Wales maybe people would think twice about abandoning helpless animals. These are just two of the hundreds of cases of animal abuse in Wales.

I am an animal lover, and I know many people in my community are animal lovers. It hits hard when we find out an animal has been abused and it is even worse when the abuser does not get the punishment they deserve.

Please sign this petition to persuade the government to use their power to create stronger sentences in Wales against those who abuse and mistreat animals. Thank you.